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VIII: Selenotrope (Deluxe Edition)

by Botanist

supported by
TheEliteExtremophile
TheEliteExtremophile thumbnail
TheEliteExtremophile Otrebor’s dulcimer lends a rich variety of sounds, ranging from a droning buzz to more biting twangs. The songs are well-structured, and I’m also quite fond of the folky vocal arrangements (though the whispered vocals do get tedious after a while). Botanist has always been best when they’ve leaned most fully into folk elements.

Full review here: theeliteextremophile.com/2023/08/07/odds-ends-august-7-2023/
Peter Hollo
Peter Hollo thumbnail
Peter Hollo Is this the best Botanist album yet? I think it could be!
Dulcimer black metal at its greatest, but lots of wonderful multi-part harmonious clean singing from Otrebor as well!
Favorite track: Angel's Trumpet.
Sorgsen Skuggan
Sorgsen Skuggan thumbnail
Sorgsen Skuggan Absolutely incredible album. Instant AOTY. A brilliant and groundbreaking musical career culminates in this coming back to a solo album that surprises with an extra ambient CD to accompany and add to the whole experience embracing even more the concept and dark enchanting fiction behind for the imagination to thrill and bloom. Favorite track: Sword of the Night.
Cole
Cole thumbnail
Cole I don't know how this guy continues to make such beautiful, chaotic music. Botanist is always contender for "music to die to". Favorite track: Risen From the Rain.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9.99 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    2CD book edition (hardcover, 18x18cm, 36 pages), enhanced artwork, includes exclusive bonus companion album "Moonflower," an ambient album made to be played simultaneously with "Selenotrope" or on its own!

    Includes unlimited streaming of VIII: Selenotrope (Deluxe Edition) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $33.99 USD or more 

     

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Mirabilis 06:58
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Selenotrope 04:33
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Moonflower I 06:10
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Moonflower V 06:59
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about

Only a very few original metal acts emerge each decade from the mass of bands that are stylistically easy to label. BOTANIST are both in musical and lyrical aspects one of those unique bands that are obviously different. Now, the act's eleventh full-length, "VIII: Selenotrope" is announced. On the eighth solo album by the project, and the first since "VI: Flora" (2014), mastermind Otrebor again sends sprigs into new sonic directions. Although the band's roots in black metal still shimmer through the dense foliage, this sprawling, straggling, blooming creation is an exuberantly growing, varied musical meditation. "The title "VIII: Selenotrope" refers to plants that flower in moonlight. BOTANIST's characteristic sound of the hammered dulcimer combines perfectly with now predominantly clean vocals that are often arranged into multi-layered choirs, resulting in an entangling, highly dynamic album that comes together in a singular piece of music seemingly taking influence from all avant-garde, progressive, experimental, post-metal, and other possible descriptions - the validity of which very much depends on each individual listener. "VIII: Selenotrope" is not made to fit into just one drawer." All songs of this project are told from the perspective of a protagonist called "The Botanist". He is characterised as a crazed man of science that lives in self-imposed exile, as far away from Humanity and its crimes against Nature as possible. In his sanctuary of fantasy and wonder, which he calls "The Verdant Realm", "The Botanist" surrounds himself with plants and flowers to find solace in the company of the natural world, while he envisions the destruction of mankind. Seated upon his throne of Veltheimia, "The Botanist" awaits the time of humanity's self-eradication, which will allow plants to cover planet Earth in green once again. BOTANIST's lyrics are equally informed by scientific nomenclature as they are inspired by Romantic-era poetry, art, and philosophy. In a striking departure from traditional metal instrumentation, Otrebor uses distorted hammered dulcimers instead of guitars All BOTANIST albums bearing Roman numbers are solo-recording by Otrebor., which includes "VIII: Selenotrope". After successfully working with Swedish mixing and mastering specialist Dan Swanö for the previous album "Photosynthesis", Otrebor decided to continue the collaboration for "VIII: Selenotrope". The result is a stunningly beautiful new branch in the BOTANIST evolution. Yet in an unexpected twist, "VIII: Selenotrope" blooms not only at night, but also shines as a radiant musical flower in broad daylight.

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credits

released May 19, 2023

2023, 2023 Prophecy Productions

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Botanist San Francisco, California

Post-black metal worship of the Natural world. Enter the Verdant Realm.

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